AlabamaJury Nullification
In Alabama the judge decides what the law is and the jury decides what happened. The lawyers on both sides get a say in what the jury is told. The state constitution protects the right to a trial by jury in a single sentence. Every criminal verdict has to be unanimous.
Overview
Juries in Alabama
In an Alabama criminal trial the judge tells the jury what the law is. The jury decides what happened, and its verdict has to be unanimous.
The judge does not write those instructions alone. The lawyers on both sides get a say in what the jury is told, and an Alabama court rule sets out how that works. The Alabama chapter of the guide explains the rule and what it means for the twelve people listening.
The Alabama constitution protects the right to a trial by jury in a single sentence. What that sentence covers, and what it leaves to the judge, is in the chapter.
The Alabama chapter
What's in the Guide for Alabama?
Jury selection
Alabama law lists twelve reasons a person can be removed from a jury before the trial starts. The chapter goes through the two that touch on a juror's own views.
What the judge tells you
What an Alabama judge's instructions ask of a juror, and what happens when a juror disagrees with one of them.
How the verdict works
What happens in an Alabama jury room when you are the one who does not agree with the other eleven, and what a not guilty verdict does once it is read out.
Protections and risks
Whether an Alabama juror can be punished for a verdict, what keeps the jury room private, and what state law says about people outside the trial who try to sway a juror.
The law in plain English
The Alabama laws behind the chapter in everyday words. They include the rule on jury instructions, the rule on unanimous verdicts, the grounds for removing a juror, and the law that gives some cases a jury only when one is asked for in writing.
Official state resources
Links to Alabama's official sources, each one checked. They cover the state code, the court system's rules and jury instructions, and the state's help page for people called to serve.
Your summons
Called for Jury Duty in Alabama?
A jury summons in Alabama asks you to come to court in your county and help decide what happened in a case. If you are picked, the judge will tell you what the law is. You and the other jurors will decide the facts.
Alabama's court system runs a help page for people who have been called. It covers when and where to report, who can serve, and how to ask to be excused.
Reporting is the part the court explains. Why a juror can be sent home before the trial starts, what the judge's instructions ask of you, and what protects you after the verdict are covered in the Alabama chapter of the guide.
Your Alabama summons
- Sent byThe court of your county
- It asks you toCome to court in your county and help decide what happened in a case
- Jury size12 (Circuit Court); district and municipal courts try cases without a jury